Author: laddertipper
Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:08 pm
Thanks so much for replies, guys. I was in the dumps over it five days ago, but it is absolutely way better each day, and I think by Sunday or so, I’ll feel nearly 100% back to before the surgery. This truly is just a little blip but it is so weird to get addicted/dependent on something that fast. One thing I kept thinking is "I get why there is Suboxone!" I mean, I already got it but I really, really got it when the w/d kicked in and came on fast. I can only imagine how tough it must be to taper off full agonist pain meds, because they are in and out so quickly.
I think you are right, Hat, about tolerance taking a long time to go down. I was able to receive many, many injections of pain meds that would have knocked me on my butt years ago, and I was like an opiate superhuman sponge. It was so nice to feel so warm and to have warm extremities, especially when walking around the hospital in the lovely gown. 
I felt so….normal in that regard, lol!
I swear, Breezy, during the bad part, I thought of you and what you wrote about your lap experience. I’m so sorry you suffered but I’m also glad you shared it w/ me, because I knew it wasn’t unheard of and I was not the only one. Nobody wants to be the only one! I am in the same boat as you, as far as no more lap procedures. Cut me wide open, but no pumping me full of gas, please. The most annoying thing was people calling the hospital with some groundbreaking advice: fart or burp. Dude, you cannot fart out gas that is in your abdominal cavity and not in your GI tract!! I swear, if someone had stuck a straw in me, I probably would have gone flying around the room. It takes a loonggg time for your tissues to absorb carbon dioxide. We need to invent a body-wide Beano.
Bboy, they are absolutely still learning, so we have to keep telling them, I guess. I asked my doc to please let the anesthesiologist know that it was rough going, because unfortunately, once the surgery is over and you are awake, you don’t get to see those guys again. I guess that by telling our docs, we are making our little contribution and it will be easier for other folks down the line. I think one problem is that even if you tell your doctor, it is the nurses who administer the pain meds, and I think that sometimes they don’t get the memo. Once you finish explaining to one nurse the reason you need so many pain meds, it’s time for the change of shift and there’s another nurse who wants to start you out on the low end approved dose. Then, you have to be miserable until your doc comes back around to tell him to write more specific orders.
The thing I learned is that you have to be forceful when it comes to your meds. I tended to wait for them to bring me pain meds. That does not work well. They leave you alone for so long and go do…whatever they do. You have to whine, bitch, and call them to let them know, or they are probably not going to help you much. I learned a little late that the doctor basically wrote orders that I could have a shitload of meds, but they didn’t bring them to me automatically. I should have demanded it, but I let myself get bad off and then I got hysterical and THEN they gave me my meds. That is really stupid, because then it’s quite tough to get control of your pain again. (Plus, I paid $5000 for this surgery WITH insurance, so….) At some point I got tired of it and got specific and they complied. Stick up for yourself, people!!! And you may be surprised how quickly the meds wear off too. Like, if one med is every four hours, you may need another one in between.
One thing I wonder about is how ‘confidential’ your information remains. One of my nurses just happened to be my daughter’s good friend’s mother. Oh, the joys of a small town….I don’t advertise having been on Sub. Obviously now she knows. It would not be the end of the world, but I do hope she does not announce it to other mommies.
Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate your support and I can see why people stick around here, even once off Sub.
laddertipper
